Far Away From Here

How do you define a place? An excerpt from Teju Cole’s new book, Known and Strange Things: on Switzerland, photography, and telling the story of a place in pictures.

Author: Teju Cole
Source: White Noise
Published: Sep 24, 2016
Length: 18 minutes (4,552 words)

Quick Fix

“I Googled in succession, How to stop thinking about someone, and How to stop missing someone, and How to be so lonely you could eat your own arm. No matter what combination of glum post-break-up sentiments I typed in, the top hit was almost always wikihow.com.”

Source: Real Life Mag
Published: Sep 21, 2016
Length: 10 minutes (2,595 words)

A Theory of Creepiness

Why you’re not the only one weirded out by someone holding a bag full of taxidermy reptiles standing too close to you and smiling blankly. Scary and creepy are different things.

Source: Aeon
Published: Sep 19, 2016
Length: 12 minutes (3,200 words)

Dancing Naked in Public

A conversation on art with critic Jerry Saltz.

Source: Longreads
Published: Sep 26, 2016
Length: 16 minutes (4,104 words)

How Hampton Creek Sold Silicon Valley on a Fake-Mayo Miracle

A vegan food company used false claims and “deployed a national network of contractors to secretly buy back” its products from grocery stores to raise millions from investors.

Published: Sep 21, 2016
Length: 17 minutes (4,479 words)

A Decade Lived in the Dark

A woman’s memoir about dealing with extreme light sensitivity captivated readers and critics, but medical professionals are questioning the veracity of her story.

Author: Ed Caesar
Source: The New Yorker
Published: Sep 19, 2016
Length: 30 minutes (7,746 words)

In Bed With the Enemy: The Untold Story of Japanese War Brides

They either tried, or were pressured, to give up their Japanese identities to become more fully American. A first step was often adopting the American nicknames given them when their Japanese names were deemed too hard to pronounce or remember. Chikako became Peggy; Kiyoko became Barbara. Not too much thought went into those choices, names sometimes imposed in an instant by a U.S. officer organizing his pool of typists. My mother, Hiroko Furukawa, became Susie.

Source: Washington Post
Published: Sep 22, 2016
Length: 19 minutes (4,842 words)

The Month That Killed the Sixties

An oral history of how everything went to hell in December 1969. Fred Hampton was killed by the police, the hippie spirit died at Altamont, and the Weathermen went underground.

Source: Random House
Published: Sep 22, 2016
Length: 32 minutes (8,161 words)

On Food, Family, and Love: A Recipe For Memory

Atlanta chef and culinary teacher Tim Patridge says there is a difference between reunion and funeral chicken. Reunion chicken, he explains, is fried fast and hot, in a hurry to get to the park and the party. It has a crust that is consequently crisper than the more tender crust of funeral chicken. Funeral chicken is fried slowly. Reluctant for the day to progress, the cook takes her time, turning the burner lower, braising as well as frying. As she stands at the stove, turning the pieces, raising and lowering the heat, she is lost in the act of remembering the person who has gone before. That memory, Tim suggests, may also flavor funeral chicken.

Source: Oxford American
Published: Sep 22, 2016
Length: 7 minutes (1,993 words)

Big Lonely Doug

How a single ancient tree in western Canada became a nationwide celebrity and media sensation, as well as the powerful image environmental groups needed to try to slow the ongoing destruction of the country’s old-growth forests.

Source: The Walrus
Published: Sep 21, 2016
Length: 11 minutes (2,985 words)